Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has published more documents to buttress his view that a planned sale of four state-owned hotels to a serving cabinet minister was a bad deal.
Ablakwa, in his recent comment on the issue, posted an internal memo between state-owned pensions outfit, SSNIT and Rock City Hotels Limited owned by agric minister Bryan Acheampong.
The document titled “SSNIT-ROCK CITY GROUP SALE OF STAKE IN SSNIT HOTELS NEGOTIATION” gave an agreed position of sale for each of the hotels in question – i.e. Labadi Beach Hotel, La Palm Royal, Ridge Royal and Elmina Beach Resort.
The overall sum of all four hotels per SSNIT’s valuation came up to over US$121m while Rock City’s offer stood as US$61.2m.
In a detailed write up on the deal posted on social media platforms (June 3), Ablakwa wrote in part:
“The SSNIT memos in my possession reveal that SSNIT’s objective expectations based on valuation reports of 60% stake in the 4 hotels (Labadi, La Palm, Ridge Royal and Elmina
) ranges from a minimum value of US$80,406,630.00 to a maximum of US$121,315,643.00.
“From the intercepted memos, Hon. Bryan Acheampong’s Rock City offer fell far below the minimum value of the 4 hotels. Hon. Bryan Acheampong’s below par bid was US$61,200,000.00,” he added.
He noted the significant losses that SSNIT stood to make if they pushed ahead with accepting the Rock City offer.
Ablakwa was the first to report on the planned sale of SSNIT’s stake in the said hotels and has since adduced evidence to prove the deal was against the interest of the state and pensioners in particular.
He has also filed a petition at CHRAJ to probe possible conflict of interest over the minister’s role in Rock City and his political position as minister and Member of Parliament.
Source: Ghana Web